Fire-alarm.



PATENTED APR. 19, 1904;

T. P. LITAKER.

FIRE ALARM.

APPLIOATION FILED snpThzz, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

2 SHEETB-SHEET 1 No. 757,934. PATENTED APR. 19, 1904. T. F. LITAKER.

FIRE ALARM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1903.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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UNITED STAT S Patented. April 19, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS F. LITAKER, OF CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO B. L. UMBERGER, OF CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA."

FIRE-ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,934, dated April 19, 1904. Application filed September 22, 1903- Serial No. 174,215. (No model.)

1'0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THoMAs F. LITAKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Concord, in the county of Cabarrus, State of 5 North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Alarms, of

which the following is a description, referwill not deteriorate from exposure to atmos-- pheric conditions fora considerable length of time.

A further object of the invention is to provide an alarm system capable of sounding an alarm at any desired point, either in the house 5 or at a distance, when the temperature rises to a dangerous degree and in which the mechanical factors are of such nature as to resist ordinary exposure, oxidation, and such like conditions which must be taken into consid- 3 eration in installing an alarm to remain in working condition for an indefinite period.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an alarm in which aplurality of alarmactuating mechanisms are connected to a single alarm in such manner as to permit independent operation of any one of such mechanisms without disturbing the others.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an alarm system including an alarm 4Q and a plurality of independent actuating devices in which after the sounding of the alarm by one of such mechanisms the parts will be automatically reset to permit a second operation by any one of the remaining mechanisms.

With these and other objects in View, as

will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and

particularly pointed out in the appended 5 claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details of the apparatus may be made Without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention. 5 5

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View illustrating an alarm system arranged in accordance with the invention, a house being indicated in dotted lines in order to show the preferred method of 0 wiring. Fig. 2 is aside elevation, on an enlarged scale, of the alarm and one of the alarmactuating members. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the parts in the position assumed after an alarm has been sounded. Figs. 4: 5 and 5 are perspective views showing a bellcrank lever and its supporting-bracket adapted for application to rafters, joists, or other supports and which may be twined to assume any desired position. Fig. 6 is a detail view 7 in plan of aportion of the alarm-releasing rod.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

At one end of the house or at any other desired point is a support, in the present instance a plank .1, on which are arranged a number of bearings or guides 2 for the sup.- port of a horizontally-disposed rod 3, normally held in the position shown by means of a helical compression-spring 4. One end of this rod is arranged adjacent to an alarm 4, which may be of any desired character, but is preferably of the continuous-sounding type, in which a train of gears connects a spring- 8 5 barrel to an escapement 5. The escapementanchor carries a bell-clapper 6 and is normally held locked by a small lever 7, which when the mechanism is actuated is moved to anchor-releasing position and the alarm is 9 sounded until the spring is fully unwound, or the rod may act as a circuit-closer for a normally open circuit to sound an alarm at a distant point, as in the central oflice'of a factory or at a fire-engine station. The end of rod 3 has a shoulder 3, and when the rod is moved endwise this shoulder passes beyond the lever 7. While the weight is acting on the rod the spring compresses, and when the weight falls from its curved lever 12 the spring returns the rod, and the shoulder 3, catching the lever 7, moves it away from the clapper, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. The bar 3 is provided with pins 8, disposed one at each alarm-actuating mechanism, and these mechare held from operative movement by means of destructible supports, preferably in the form of awire 15, of metal, having a low fusing-point. These wires are run throughout the building in any desired manner, and they may be under the flooring or eaves or in the rooms or around chimneys or flues, and they are supported by bell-crank levers 16, having bracket-arms 17 and constructed especially with a view to economy and to permit ready adjustment to any desired position. Each bracket-arm is formed of comparatively flexible metal, which, while of suflicient strength to support the levers and the wires, may be readily bent to assume proper shape with respect to the support, be it joist, rafter, or other member, and in Figs. 4-. and 5 are shown two adjustments in order that the structure may be better understood. The flexible wire is run in any desired manner to the several actuating mechanisms, and Fig. 1 illustrates one method whereby a wire may be placed close under the eaves of a house. In this case the wire 15 is secured at one end to a fixed point, as 20, and passes under the eaves to the end of the house, where it is connected by a bell-crank or other lever 21 to asecond wire 15, running to one of the bell-crank levers, and said lever is in turn connected to one of the levers 12 or weights 13.

In operation if any one of the wires is exposed to an abnormally high temperature it fuses and allows the weight 13 to fall. This Each of the actuating meclimoves lever 12, and link or hook 14 is forced against pin 8, causing the rod to trip the alarm-locking catch. The movement of any one of the alarm mechanisms is entirely independent of the movement of the others, and after the weight 13 of the actuated lever slides from said lever the spring will return the rod, and all of the remaining levers will be in position for operative movement.

It will be observed that all pulleys, guides,

and like wire-guiding devices are dispensed with, these being liable to rust and get out of order if left unattended for any-considerable period, while the bell-crank levers will remain operative for an indefinite length of time.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a fire-alarm, an alarm member, a weight-supporting lever, a weight detachably connected thereto, a destructible means for holding the weight elevated, a rod extending from the lever to the alarm, and means for automatically restoring the rod and lever to initial position after the weight is detached.

2. The combination with an alarm, of an alarm-releasing rod, a plurality of weightsupports having connection with said rod, destructible means for holding the supports in operative position, automatically-detachable' weights carried by the supports, and means for restoring the rod to initial position after one of the weights is detached.

3. The combination with an alarm, of an alarm-releasing rod, a plurality of pivotallymounted weight-supports each independently connected to the rod, automatically-detachable weights carried by the weight-supports,

destructible means for retaining the supports in operative position, and a spring connected to the rod said spring being compressed on downward movement of a weight and serving to return the rod to initial position when said weight isdetached'. v V

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of 'two witnesses.

THOMAS F. LiTAKER. 

